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Friday, February 28, 2014

An Evening of Wine and Friendship

The official date, time, and place has now been set for the launch party for High Maga:

Saturday April 12th

at the

Whitfield Center

Avila University Campus

11901 Wornall Road

Kansas City, MO 64145

The event will start at 5pm and end at 7pm, or when we run out of cake, whichever comes first. (After the cake runs out, we are likely to proceed to the nearest pub.) I'll post an announcement in the side bar of the blog soon, but please mark your calendars. If you're in the area, I'd love to see you at the party. The event is free and open to the public, and books will be available for purchase and signing.

Of course, April 12th is a full eight days after the official launch date. If you can't wait a week to get your copy, don't worry! The book will be available through Amazon starting April 4th. Also, next week I will start a Goodreads Giveaway for High Maga, giving you a chance to win a free signed copy. (If you haven't entered the giveaway for Eolyn, now is your last chance! That giveaway ends on March 4th.)

My editor Eric T. Reynolds has been released from intensive care at the hospital and moved to a rehabilitation center closer to home. We are all really happy with the progress he is starting to make, and look forward to his continued recovery.

Heather McDougal is just about done with the full cover design for the paperback edition of High Maga, so this time next week you may get to see it. The cover is magnificent. I am not exaggerating. I could not be more pleased with how the front and back cover art have come together, and I cannot wait to share it with you.

Sometime in the coming weeks, I will also post a full preview of the first three chapters of High Maga. So stay tuned for that!

Speaking of previews, onto our feature for this week. Last Friday, you met Eolyn's sisters in magic, Adiana and Renate. Today you get to join them for an evening of wine and friendship. This is one of my favorite scenes; it is light-hearted, gossipy, and full of charm, without undermining the deeper conflicts that plague Renate, who tells this part of the story. Enjoy, and thank you, once again, for accompanying me during the countdown to High Maga.

~*~

High Maga

Chapter 11 (Excerpt)

“I speak in earnest, Renate.” Adiana’s
words were slurred by drink. “Borten would be an excellent suitor for
Eolyn. He’s good man, a considerate lover—”

Wine escaped Renate’s lips in a
sputtering laugh. “How would you know Borten’s a considerate lover?”

Adiana
shrugged. “I can see it in his face.”

Renate let go
a high pitched cackle and shook her head. “See it in his face? I’ll wager
you’ve seen more than his face. You’ve been restless as a lynx in heat since
Eostar.”

Adiana gave a mock cry of protest and
struck Renate playfully on the shoulder. “How dare you! One does not have to be a
maga to see into the hearts of men. I learned a few things working the taverns
in Selkynsen, you know. I can read a man as surely as Eolyn reads her books.”

Adiana flopped
back on the blanket with an indignant harrumph. They had settled in the
courtyard for an evening of wine and companionship, after having tucked the
girls into bed. Days had passed since Eolyn departed for the South Woods, and
the week would likely see its end before she returned.

“And you accuse me of inventing stories and
gossip!” Adiana complained. “Even if I had ‘read Borten in bed’, what would it
matter? The magas always had untamed teachings with respect to that sort of
thing. Isn’t aen-lasati the source of
a woman’s greatest magic? I swear to the Gods, Renate, sometimes you seem too
much of a prude to be a maga.”

A prude.
Renate rolled the word over her tongue as she swirled the wine in her cup. Yes,
that’s what she was. Tight inside, dry as autumn leaves underfoot. Forever
bound by the failures and disillusions of her past. “The Magas of the Old
Orders were disciplined women, not harlots at a summer festival. To lay claim
to their understanding of aen-lasati while
ignoring all their other teachings does their memory a disservice. It’s
precisely that sort of myth that led us to the pyres in the first place.”

“Oh, Renate.”
Adiana groaned, sat up, and reached for the wine skin. “Why must you take
everything so seriously? It’s finished, remember? The war, the purges, the
rebellion, the prohibition. We’re free now. The magas have been restored to
their rightful place in Moisehén. We’ve got a proper Aekelahr, aspiring young magas, the protection of the Mage King,
and a nice little regiment of handsome guards. Even you could have some fun,
you know.”

The thought of her tired old
body wrapped around one of the King’s men made Renate giggle until the
giddiness shook her ribs and broke upon her lips.

“That’s the spirit!” said Adiana. “Here, have
some more wine. And tell me, which one of the guards do you like the most?”

“Oh, for the love of the Gods, Adiana!”
Renate was laughing uncontrollably now, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I am
an old woman.”

“Age is meaningless for a true maga.
That’s what Eolyn says.” Adiana rested her head on Renate’s shoulder.

The older woman returned her warm
embrace, inhaling the sweet smells of night mingled with Adiana’s vibrant
aroma, of primrose and summer winds, of the riverside city that had once been
her home. She envied her friend in that moment, not so much for her youth and
beauty, but for her continued faith in the possibility that anything could be finished. Someday time and experience
would break that faith. Desire and loss, terror and
death, treachery and abandonment, all of it stayed with a person until the end
of her days, animating the shadows at night, invading dreams,
stealing away tranquility in the lonely hours before dawn.

Adiana
gave a happy sigh and lifted her cup to the sky. “I love this moment, when the wine makes
the stars shine brighter than ever. Gods bless the vineyards of Selkynsen!"

Women and Science

Join author and ecologist Karin Rita Gastreich for an ongoing exploration of women and science. How have gender stereotypes influenced the practice of science? How have women contributed to science? Watch out for some interesting parallels between science and fantasy fiction.